How far can the trend of short dramas going global really go?

Recently, the digital culture enterprise Guanshi Qianyao has settled in the Lingang New Area, planning to develop short drama production and overseas expansion business here. In the past six months, more than a dozen short drama - related enterprises have gathered in Lingang, and all of them are expanding into overseas markets without exception.

In recent years, the domestic short drama industry has witnessed a blowout development, driving the rapid growth of the overseas market. A group of entrepreneurs have entered the field, adapting domestic - proven themes such as "dominant CEO" and "rebirth" with foreign faces and English subtitles, and launching them in markets like Europe, America, and Southeast Asia, trying to replicate the traffic miracle overseas. Data shows that currently, more than 300 Chinese short drama apps have gone global. The leading platform ReelShort once surpassed TikTok to top the download list on the US App Store. In the first three quarters of 2025, the scale of the Chinese short drama overseas market exceeded 1.5 billion US dollars.

However, just one or two years later, the trend began to change, and many once - prosperous teams fell into losses. As the boom receded, the industry reached a critical turning point: Why did the once - existing dividends fade? What kind of enterprises can stay in the game? Where is the next opportunity if one enters the market at this moment?

From traffic dividends to capability dividends

Guanshi Qianyao was formerly a film and long - drama production company with years of experience. Last year, it decided to transform into the short drama track. According to An Ran, a partner of the company, after several years of development, a stable business closed - loop has been formed in the domestic short drama overseas expansion. Since this year, with the maturity of platforms, the cultivation of user habits, and the establishment of a successful payment model, a large amount of capital and teams have begun to pour in. Short dramas are becoming one of the fastest - growing content forms globally.

Although the overseas short drama market is still in a stage of fierce competition, making money is far from easy as imagined. The MCN agency Putaozi Media, which has been deeply involved in overseas video platforms for many years, has a deeper understanding of this. "One or two years ago, there were a large number of people engaged in overseas short dramas, but the number has significantly decreased recently," said Li Jinxi, the vice - president. The reason is quite harsh - people gradually found that only a few can really make stable profits, and most likely, they will incur losses.

A common view is that the overseas expansion of short dramas is shifting from traffic dividends to capability dividends.

Li Jinxi analyzed that the early explosion of domestic short dramas relied on the strong supply of online novel IPs, fast - paced and exciting narratives, and industrialized mass production. After going global, this model was directly replicated: domestic hit scripts were translated and adapted, then handed over to overseas teams for shooting, or foreign actors were hired in China and scenes were set up for shooting, and then launched on overseas platforms.

On this industrial chain, many small and medium - sized production teams like Guanshi Qianyao and Putaozi play the role of contractors. They undertake orders from platforms or copyright holders, are responsible for shooting, editing, and post - production, and earn guaranteed production fees and revenue sharing after the launch. Another more direct approach is translation, translating popular domestic short dramas into multiple language versions and distributing them through overseas channels to earn traffic and advertising revenue.

Many industry insiders have realized that the inclusive boom has passed, and for small and medium - sized production teams, the risks that were once ignored are gradually emerging.

There is a consensus in the profit - making logic of short dramas: production is not the biggest cost, but traffic investment is. For a short drama with a production cost of more than a hundred thousand US dollars to become a hit, it often requires several or even dozens of times the funds for traffic investment. The industry is gradually showing a pattern where the top players take all. For small and medium - sized production parties that simply rely on contracting, their profits are constantly being compressed.

More notably, overseas local short drama companies are rising. Since this year, industry giants such as Google and Hollywood, as well as traditional film and television forces, have also been accelerating their entry into the global short drama market. In Li Jinxi's view, for Chinese production parties, the past advantage of "dimensionality reduction strike" is weakening. As the entire track moves from extensive growth to industrialization and high - quality development, the overseas expansion of domestic short dramas has entered a new stage of competing in terms of quality, long - term operation ability, and strategy.

AI makes "everyone a producer"

Facing the challenges, the two enterprises are taking similar steps: giving up short - term speculation, deeply cultivating content and technology, and building competitiveness with a long - term perspective.

Li Jinxi believes that the core logic of short dramas is still "those who have good content will get traffic". Although domestic hits are still an important reference for the creation of overseas short dramas, local adaptation according to different markets, keen market insights, and user analysis are particularly important at this moment. For example, the European and American markets pay more attention to self - consistent logic. There can be fewer exciting points, but the narrative cannot be absurd; Southeast Asian users prefer fast - paced and highly - reversed plots; the Middle East has a particular preference for domestic niche themes such as family and brotherhood.

The iterative breakthrough of AI technology is becoming a recognized new variable in the industry. Data shows that in the total playback volume of 8.67 billion during the Spring Festival short drama season in 2026, the proportion of AI - made comic dramas (including AI - simulated live - action dramas) is close to 30%. Industry institutions predict that the user scale of AI - made comic dramas will increase from about 120 million in 2025 to 280 million in 2026, and the market scale is expected to reach 24 billion yuan.

The most core change is that AI has completely reconstructed the production cost and production mode of short dramas, achieving extreme cost - reduction and efficiency - improvement. An Ran calculated an account for reporters. For traditional overseas live - action short dramas, the minimum cost for a single drama is nearly a hundred thousand US dollars. AI - made comic dramas are priced by the minute. For ordinary - quality ones, it only costs about 100 yuan per minute, and for extremely high - quality ones, it is about 2000 yuan per minute. Even for the latter, the total cost of a 60 - minute comic drama is less than 20,000 US dollars, only one - tenth or even less of that of traditional live - action shooting.

Since it is not restricted by scenes, weather, or personnel, AI has compressed the short drama production cycle from weeks to days. And once the process is established, the subsequent "replication" cost is extremely low, and theoretically, there can be infinite production capacity. With the breakthrough of domestic AI technologies such as Seedance 2.0, the efficiency will continue to improve, opening up space for testing various types of content and greatly enhancing the overseas competitiveness of domestic short dramas.

"In the mainstream scenario of mobile - phone viewing, the picture quality of AI - made comic dramas can already meet users' needs. To some extent, AI makes it possible for 'everyone to be a producer'," said An Ran.

This cost advantage is also changing the procurement logic of platforms. Li Jinxi revealed that previously, platforms purchased a large number of live - action short dramas, but recently, they have gradually shifted to testing and purchasing AI - made comic dramas. AI is gradually becoming the mainstream production mode in the industry.

Utilize the ecosystem to support the overseas expansion of short dramas

While AI releases productivity, it also drives short dramas from the content industry into a new stage driven by computing power. Behind the rapid implementation of a large number of creative ideas and the continuous overseas expansion of a large number of AI short drama works is the continuously growing computing power support and a stable, high - speed, and compliant data link directly to overseas.

In this context, a good industrial ecosystem can help entrepreneurs better ride the wave. In recent years, Lingang has focused on fields such as digital culture and cross - border data, and launched the C5 entrepreneurship support system for small and medium - sized teams and OPCs (super individuals). It not only created an exclusive community for OPCs but also issued several measures for the development of the "super individual" economy in the Lingang New Area, providing full - chain service guarantees such as inclusive computing power, low - cost space, cross - border compliance support, and an international network environment. In less than half a year, more than 150 teams related to short drama overseas expansion and cross - border services have gathered in the OPC community.

"It doesn't make much difference where the production link of short drama overseas expansion is. The key is whether the policy support and industrial ecosystem are suitable," said Li Jinxi. Lingang has a network link directly to overseas, with efficient and stable data transmission. Coupled with rich computing power resources, it can meet the full - process needs of AI short drama R & D, translation, distribution, and operation. Coupled with the government's supporting policies for digital culture and digital quasi - entrepreneurs, it can help enterprises reduce costs, improve efficiency, and develop steadily.

The year 2026 is defined by the industry as the "Year of AIGC Content Industrialization". In addition to Lingang, many areas in Shanghai are accelerating the layout of the "AI + short drama" industrial track. In March this year, the AIGC Short Drama Entrepreneurship Base of Zhangjiang Youth Innovation Camp in Pudong New Area was inaugurated. Its business covers fields such as computing power services, AI - made comic drama production, digital cultural and creative R & D, and AIGC talent training, providing complete hardware facilities and perfect supporting services for relevant enterprises and entrepreneurial teams.

The trend of short drama overseas expansion is still going on, and no one can give a definite answer on how far it can go. But An Ran is sure of one thing: this industry is bidding farewell to the wild - growth stage and entering a stage of competing in internal strength. Those enterprises that are willing to focus on IP development, quality control, user understanding, and embrace technology will not be easily swept away by the changing trends, no matter how the wind blows.

(Source: Jiefang Daily, Author: Shen Siyi)